


everybody down (i'm coming around).

by jlineluvbot



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Angst, F/F, my first fic lol idk what im doing honestly., the product of pure boredom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2020-05-14 03:42:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19265200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jlineluvbot/pseuds/jlineluvbot
Summary: Mina has erected a system in her life that dictates whether or not a person will be worth her time and effort. Basically, if Mina predicts that said person will cause her any form of emotional pain in the event that they walk out of her life, she does not engage in a relationship with that person. This means that even the thought of a romantic relationship is completely cast out of the realm of possibility.So, tell me… Who the hell is this random pizza delivery girl and why does her mere presence threaten to tear down the protective walls Mina has spent the past year of her life building?or...My humble attempt at writing an emo michaeng au with pizza girl Chaeyoung:)





	1. sheltered loneliness

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is my first attempt at writing fan fiction so i hope it's not too horrendous. enjoy!

For most people, living with the boundaries Mina has set for herself would be a rather sad, lonely existence. But for Mina, its okay, she’s content with her situation. At least, that’s what she’s surmised, after all this is everything she has known since she finished high school, loneliness.

 

In her daily life as a college student, Mina is able to keep up a pretty convincing facade. She isn’t friends with anyone in her course, but  most of them just assume that her friends are in other parts of campus or that she keeps company with people outside of the college. In a standard school environment, Mina is known to be very easy to get along with. She’s smart, hardworking, considerate and thoughtful to those around her. After the first couple of months at this school, Mina had gotten rather good at maintaining a ‘healthy’ mutual respect with most of the students in the class. This consists of friendly greetings upon arrival, the odd passing joke outside the lecture hall and being an excellent contributor to group work whenever it was assigned.

“Mina!”The raven-haired girl snapped up from her book at the sound of her name being called, she looked over her shoulder, spotting a classmate heading in her direction, smiling brightly. “Hey Jihyo, can I help you with someth-?” was all Mina was able to get out before she was startled by the act of being engrossed in a tight hug that threatened to knock her off balance. luckily, she was able to steady both herself and the instigator of the hug with a few swift backward steps. “You’re a lifesaver, you know that, right?”  Jihyo said, finally releasing the younger girl from her grip. “Yeah well, I try.” Mina shrugs before confidently placing her hands on her hips, in as her best attempt at impersonating a superhero. “No, seriously, the notes you lent me for the cold war are seriously incredible. I never would have even thought to listen to the White House tape recordings during the planning of Fidel Castro’s assassination much less bothered to listen to all of it, you are a genius!” Jihyo beamed. For a few brief moments, Mina stood idle, trying to piece together what the other girl was saying as well as trying to come up with a response.

“Well…-“, She started. “Truth be told, I didn’t actually bother to listen to all the recordings myself either. They were cooped up in that meeting room for days on end, I possessed neither the time nor energy to sit through all of that. All I did was find a summarized explanation of the recordings on the internet, detailing all of the major points discussed and underlined the parts I thought were relevant to our assignment.” “Oh god” Mina exclaimed, “I hope you used your own words.” sending Jihyo a cheeky smile. “Yes! Don’t worry, I made sure to include my own take on the research.” Jihyo replied, with a hint of urgency which Mina understood as the other girl’s way of expressing her sincerity. Mina chuckled at the thought of Jihyo actually taking her question seriously, ‘ _I guess my tone was off, better work on that’_ She thought to herself. “Don’t worry I’m just teasing. In any case, I’m glad I could help.” Mina said coolly, adjusting the strap of her bag. “So anyway,” Jihyo spoke, “I was wondering if you’d let me pay you back? My friends and I are having a girls night at my parents beach house and I’d love it if you could come, it will be super fun, they’re all really cool.” Mina paused for a moment, then asked, “When is it?” in an attempt to sound like she was interested. “Saturday night” the older girl replied. “Oh… that’s a real shame, I’m supposed to be helping my friend move to a new house this weekend and the only time the removal company is available is late Saturday afternoon and I’m meant to help her settle in.” A lie. After all, she doesn’t have friends. “That sucks, I wish I was available but I already promised her the extra pair of hands.” Another lie. Mina just didn’t want to go. “No, its okay, I understand, your friend needs you. I mean, that’s what friends are for, right?” Jihyo said, giving the younger girl a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Right.” Mina replied.

Much to Mina’s pleasure, their conversation didn’t last much longer than that with both parties needing to be in different parts of the campus. They quickly bid each other goodbye before setting off to their respective classes. On the walk to her next class, which thankfully, Jihyo was not in, Mina made a mental note of the interaction she just had. _Park Jihyo is getting too close, far too close,_ She thought to herself. _You’re slipping, Mina. You cannot let her in._

Being thanked and praised to the extent that Mina had been by Jihyo would make many people’s day. A feeling that to so many others, would be incredibly heart-warming. To Mina however, it was anything but heart-warming. It was suffocating. Suffocating because the simple act of receiving a hug was a direct breach of the boundaries Mina had put in place for herself. These boundaries were set to keep relationships, friendly or otherwise, at bay so that Mina wouldn’t have to relive the experience of heartbreak she felt in her senior year of high school.

If you were to suspect that Mina’s personal life consisted of sheltered loneliness and honestly not much else, you wouldn’t gather that from her everyday personality. This is because of the mask she wears in public, she likes to think that she’s gotten quite good at pretending to be someone she isn’t. Mina has dedicated the best part of a year to perfecting the craft of acting in a way that appears to be normal, well, normal enough for people to not show any sort of concern for her, but not putting herself out there too much to the point where people start to become interested. I guess the best way to describe it would be that people are to Mina, what pets are to a bad owner. She feeds them, but just enough to be satisfied and not enough for them to actually like her. That’s a terrible analogy, but I trust you get the point. There are however, in the case of a certain Park Jihyo, times where Mina miss steps and leads people to thinking that a possible friendship is in the works. But it doesn’t take long for Mina to realize the threat, and deal with it accordingly.

\----------

As Mina’s extensive search of her pantry and refrigerator draws to a conclusion, her initial assumption proved to be right.

There was no food.

“Fuck.” she says, in a volume that others might consider to be a whisper, but in actuality it’s just her normal speaking voice.

A few options run through her head at this moment. There’s the supermarket, but she’s due for a decent grocery shop and at the moment its 9pm so by the time it would take for her to get there, they’ll be close to closing, not enough time to get everything she needs.

Another option Mina considered for a moment was to just not eat tonight and wait until the morning where she could pick up something on her way to class. At that moment a loud grumbling noise escapes from her stomach. _I’m hungry._ She concludes to herself. And with that, the thought of waiting until tomorrow was quickly discarded.

Seemingly having run out of options, Mina realizes the only option she had left was food delivery. More specifically, pizza delivery, as it was the only restaurant near her house that was open at this time of the night.

Pizza was not Mina’s favorite food in the world but being low on choices, there wasn’t much else available.

 

\----------

It takes a little over half an hour for her order to arrive, enough time for Mina to realize that her decision to order pizza instead of waiting until tomorrow, was a wise one, if the noises coming from her stomach were anything to go by.

A ring of the doorbell followed by two quick consecutive knocks on the glass steals Mina’s attention back to reality, away from the events unfolding in the book that she’s had her nose in for the past 30 odd minutes since she placed her order. _Finally._ She thinks to herself. reaching for her penguin stylized bookmark, she places it inside the novel before rising from her seat and heading to the door, tucking the book in between her arm and her abdomen.  

Mina’s not quite sure what to expect of the person delivering her pizza when she opens the door. Maybe an un-enthused teenager that doesn’t even bother putting on a polite act in the hopes of getting a decent sized tip, that would be amusing. Or a rude, snarky dickhead that seems like they want nothing more than to bury your face in a large deep dish pepperoni.

What she doesn’t expect, is a cute, shorter than average girl with a wide smile and dreamy eyes. Much like the one currently standing before her.

“Hi, um, order for… Mina?” the short girl asks, turning her gaze upward, in search of some form of confirmation.

“That would be me” Mina says, raising her hand and looking around as if she wasn’t the only person standing on her side of the door. Earning a brief laugh from the cute delivery girl.

“Then it stands to reason that this belongs to you” the short girl says as she pulls a box of pizza out from her bag.

“So it would seem.” Mina replies.

“That’ll be $21.80 thank you, cash or card?”

“car-“ Mina pauses for a moment, looking down, realizing that she’s not holding her wallet, just the book she had been reading earlier.

“Sorry, just wait one second while I get my wallet from my room-“Mina says before scurrying off, not giving the other girl a chance to reply.

Not long after, Mina returns with her wallet and an apologetic look on her face.

“Sorry for keeping you, I know you’re probably really busy” Mina murmers, fumbling around with her wallet trying to release her card from its pocket. 

“Its fine” the shorter girl replies. “I’m not in any rush, it’s a pretty slow night tonight.”

Mina hands over her card to the delivery girl with a tinge of red donning her cheeks, the product of embarrassment. “In any case, I ordered the food and I wasn’t even prepared when it arrived, foolish.”

“I suppose it is” the delivery girl says.

 _What?_ Mina thinks to herself. _Did she just-._ But before Mina can conjure up a reply, the delivery girl interjects “Though, I’m not really one to judge, seeing as I too, have found myself ‘away with the fairies’ for lack of a better term whilst reading that book.”

“Sorry?” Mina asks.

“That’s ‘Name of The Wind’ right? First book in the 'Kingkiller Chronicles'? It’s been a while, but I’d recognize that cover anywhere.”

Mina looks down at her hands once again realizing she’s still carrying the novel. “Yeah, it is Name of The Wind… You’ve read it?”

“I have” the short girl replies. “About a year ago now, so even though the events of the story are no longer fresh in my mind, the emotions I felt whilst reading it is something I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”

Mina can't help but smile at the shorter girls adoration for the book, “Well, I’m only about a quarter of the way in so you’re really raising my expectations.”

“I personally thought it was beautiful but I have read opinions from people on the other side of the fence who come down really hard on certain aspects of the story.”

Mina would normally, under usual circumstances, not let conversations get this far, especially on topics that she was genuinely interested in. But there’s something about the way this damn pizza delivery girl looks at her and speaks, that causes Mina to lose any semblance of composure when it comes to maintaining her boundaries.

“What aspects in particular?” Mina asks, and if she wasn’t invested in this conversation before, she certainly is now.

She shouldn't have asked that and shes well aware of the fact but there’s something about a meaningful conversation on a topic that you’re truly invested it, much like Mina is with this novel, that even someone who pays careful attention to the direction in which an interaction is going in so that they can identify and kill it before it gets further than meaningless small talk, can’t help but to engage in.

“You’re not really deep enough into the story for me to be able to tell you without spoiling something, but basically, the main criticisms revolve around the main character, Kvothe. Some people strongly dislike him and see him as a rather one-dimensional character while others, me, hold the belief that he’s an incredibly interesting protagonist with many layers.”

“I suppose I shall keep reading so I can form my own opinion” Mina says, gazing off into the distance, stroking her imaginary beard.

 The delivery girl fails to hide her amusement as she covers her mouth to mask the rather obvious smile Mina had earned. “I’m sure that whatever conclusion you draw about the story upon completion will be a wise one.”

The time that Mina hasn’t spent, lost in the short girls eyes, she’s spent trying to come up with witty replies. Just as she’s about to spit another one liner, a soft buzzing noise comes from the delivery girls jacket pocket. “Oh, shit, sorry, that’s my manager, I think I’m needed to make another run. Uh…” Now it’s the delivery girls turn to be a flustered mess as she fumbles around with eftpos machine, struggling to put it back into her bag without dropping it.

Mina grins at the sight in front of her. _This girl really is something._

She’s woken from her reverie when she sees delivery girls arm extended out to her, “Here’s your card… and receipt.” The short girl says shyly, now sporting a bright shade of red on her cheeks, similar to what Mina was wearing a few moments ago. “Thanks… uh” Mina pauses, her eyes drifting across the delivery girls chest and body, realizing that she isn’t actually wearing a name tag. The shorter girl realizes Mina’s confusion and interjects, “Chaeyoung”.

“Right, well, thank you Chaeyoung, uh.. drive safe, and have a good night”

 _Drive safe?... who the fuck says that?_ but before Mina can even finish cursing herself under her breath, a soft giggle leaves Chaeyoung’s lips, indicating that she too found it a rather strange thing to say, even if she was pizza deliverer.

“You too Mina, enjoy the book, but more importantly, enjoy your pizza.” Chaeyoung says with a confident wink, seemingly recovered from her embarrassing episode a few seconds ago.

And with that, the pizza delivery girl, otherwise known as Chaeyoung, turns heel and heads towards her car. She looks back one last time, sending the raven-haired girl standing in the doorway a bright smile that Mina could only describe as  _utterly adorable._

Mina shyly reciprocates the smile before slowly closing the door, and for a long moment, just stands there, pizza box, wallet and book in hand, stunned at what had just happened.

_What the FUCK was that?_


	2. equations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, this is unedited so if it doesn't make any sense im sorry, ill try and edit it soon. anyways, enjoy!

_“You barked up the wrong tree this time princess, I’m going to make your life hell.”_

_“Bitch” “Whore” “Slut” “Ugly”_

_“I can’t believe Mina would do something like that, she seemed nice.”_

_“That’s just the face she wears in public, to hide what a terrible person she is.”_

Mina came awake suddenly in the dark and laid there, blinking, all she could hear was the sound of her heart racing. It took her a few seconds to realize where she was as she let her eyes wander to every corner of the room in search of something to recognize. A deep sigh of relief left Mina’s lips; she was in her bed. A few seconds later, a sharp chill rushed through her arms and only then did Mina realize that she was covered in a cold sweat. She spared a glanced over at the alarm clock sitting on her bedside table. It read _4:10am_. She didn’t need to get up for another 3 hours. _Great._ Usually when Mina wakes up in the middle of the night, she chooses to just lie there and clear her head, not bothering to try and get another couple hours of sleep regardless of if it meant she would be paying for it later on in the day. This instance however was different. As the thoughts of the dream she had, begun to fade, the thought of what the annoyingly cute pizza delivery girl said last night took centre stage. Her mind snapped to the book.  She looked over at her bedside table again, this time reaching out to open the top drawer. Locating the book, she pulls it out of the drawer and moves to turn on her night light before sitting up, getting into a more comfortable position. What happens after that? Well… she opens the book… and reads.    

Unfortunately, nightmares aren’t an uncommon occurrence for Mina. As much as she has worked on suppressing her feelings during the day when she’s awake, there is absolutely no escaping them in her sleep. It is the one place that she is forced to face her demons. There’s nothing Mina can do about it; she can’t just not sleep. So, after a while she chose to just accept them.

_\----------_

If you were to take a look around Mina’s place, it wouldn’t be crazy of you to suspect that she really enjoys pizza. Your assumption, however, would be wrong, she’s not overly fond of it… chain restaurant pizza at least.

So why then, is there are a pile of empty pizza boxes gathering dust in the corner of her kitchen bench and assumedly more empty boxes, crumpled up in her trash can?

If you were to pose that question to Mina, her likely response would be something along the lines of ‘I’ve been so busy the last few days, so I haven’t really had any time to spare to do a grocery shop’. It’s a bold face lie but not entirely unbelievable, after all, what Mina has been doing for the past few days is unknown to everyone but Mina herself.

If you were to give Mina a truth serum and ask the same question, she would go on about some girl who delivered her food a week ago, describing everything from the way she smelt, to the way her shoulder length hair hung out from underneath her cap, making her look even more adorable, to the way her dimples came out in full force when she smiled… god, her smile. After describing all of the physical features of this pizza delivery girl that mina found captivating, she would likely move on to reveal how she had been binge reading a book this pizza girl had spoken highly of and that she had finished most of it was now able to give her own opinion on Kvothe… who the hell is Kvothe?

\----------

It’s a real mystery to Mina, what it is about Chaeyoung that intrigues her so much.

So far, she’s rationalised to herself that the only reason she’s given Chaeyoung even a second of thought is because of her interest in the book. Nothing more, nothing less.

It’s easier this way.

Except… it’s not easy, nothing about this is easy. Mina thinks back to last week, when Jihyo had hugged her and how it felt. Suffocating is the word she’d use to describe it. But with Chaeyoung, there wasn’t any skin ship involved whatsoever, only talking. Yet, for the first time in a long, long time. Mina felt like she could breathe. It felt like for the past year, she had learnt to live without breathing and ultimately forgot the feeling. The feeling of being able to relax around someone and how freeing it is. Outside of the confinements of her room, Mina has forced herself to be on high alert in terms of how she speaks to people and who she speaks to. it’s truly a soul sucking process but one that she was getting used to. That is until this damn pizza girl showed up.  

\----------

Yes, it’s true. Mina had ordered pizza every night for 7 consecutive days. An embarrassing feat, but no one was there to judge her for her life choices, so she wasn’t too bothered. If you were a simple-minded person, you might ask yourself why she would do that if she doesn’t particularly like pizza. Well… its simple… to see Chaeyoung.

Mina had been powering through the book since their last (and only) encounter and since then she’s all but finished it and so now she wants to give Chaeyoung her opinions on it. That’s all

In Mina’s head, if she can just talk to pizza girl one more time, and voice her own opinion. She’ll finally be free from tight grip Chaeyoung has on her thoughts. It’s wishful thinking, but Mina will seemingly do anything to get her life back to the way it was.

As fate would have it, Mina would need to find another avenue in which to talk to Chaeyoung as all of her orders where delivered by someone else. Actually, a few someone’s, none of them however, possessing even a fraction of the charm, interest and intrigue that Chaeyoung had.

_Well… now what?_

\----------

  _Yet another horrible idea… wow, I’ve been on a roll lately._ Is what Mina thinks as she steps into a hole in the wall pizza shop a few blocks down the road from where she lives. There are about a million different thoughts coursing through her brain upon entrance, most of which cursing the plan Mina had conjured.

 _Well, I’m here, so…_ She stops when reality hits her like a tonne of bricks as she realizes that she hadn’t really thought much past this point. For some reason, part of her just expected to walk in and see Chaeyoung with the same cap and smile she wore 2 weeks ago, Mina would greet her, tell her what she thought of the book and be on her merry way. Only, when she entered the shop, the counter was unattended and the only employee (not Chaeyoung) she saw in the store had told her she would be back in a minute before disappearing behind the wall that separates the service counter from the kitchen carrying two large cases of pizza dough.  

Conveniently, worse thoughts enter her head now that she’s inside. _What if she doesn’t remember me? It’s been two weeks and she’s probably just as nice and friendly to every customer she serves, I’m likely just another number to her._

_What if she’s not even here? Maybe she quit…_

_I’ve had some bad ideas recently, but this certainly takes the cake._

Mina is a smart girl. Truly. Her grades and the general consensus from those around her at school would tell you as much. Perhaps what she lacks is the ability to control her emotions when they get out of control. She’s spent so long suppressing them that she is out of practice when it comes to handling them when they do surface.      

Knowing full well that her plan was nothing short of a complete and utter mess, she lets out a massive sigh of frustration, running her hands through her hair.

She moves to leave the store, when a voice calls out, a familiar voice. _No._

Yep. It was her.  

“Hello? Can I help y-… Mina?” Chaeyoung said with a mixture of surprise and confusion in her tone.

There she was, Chaeyoung… standing behind the counter. No cap but the same adorable smile.

“You’re not wearing your cap? And… you remember my name?” there were a thousand questions at the tip of Mina’s tongue ready to be fired but for some reason those are the only two that made it out.

“Oh, right… you see, I was in a rush this morning and I left it at home. Why? Do you not like my hair?”

“No! it’s not that I just-”

“I’m just messing with you. And yes, I remember you, our brief discussion the other week reignited an old flame. I started listening to ‘Name of the Wind’ on audiobook. And I have you to thank for that, I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the story.” Chaeyoung said.

Mina finds herself smiling for the second time over the sheer adoration Chaeyoung had for the novel. _Nice to see nothing has changed in the last two weeks, she’s still as adorable as ever._ “I’m glad I could be the instigator that reunited two long lost lovers”

“Speaking of which-”, Mina continues, “I powered through it last week and I’m proud to say I finished it. I um, don’t know if you remember, but last time we spoke, I told you I would have formed my own opinion own Kvothe once I finished it.”

“I remember it clearly.” Chaeyoung replies. “and I’d love to hear it but… could you possibly hold that thought for…” She stops for a second and looks down at her watch. “another fifteen minutes? That’s when my shift ends but I have to clean up before the dinner rush tonight.”

 _Well, this is why I’m here._ Mina thinks to herself while shooting Chaeyoung a reassuring smile. “Yeah no problem, I have no commitments anytime soon.”

The fifteen minutes pass very quickly. Too quickly in fact because Mina isn’t even sure what she’s going to say. she tried to form a clear, concise case on why she thinks the way she does about Kvothe.

This is sure to be interesting.

\----------

“Do you like coffee?” was the question that broke Mina out of her own thoughts. “Um, yeah I do, why?”

 “Well there’s a rather nice coffee shop a few stores down so I thought maybe we could talk there, away from the smell of burnt cheese” Chaeyoung says.

It’s only now that Mina takes a good look Chaeyoung and sees that she is no longer wearing her work uniform. instead sporting a Metallica t shirt, light blue jeans and a pair of vans. It takes a while for Mina to realise she’s staring. And she’s all too embarrassed when the thought hits her.

It takes a “Well?” from Chaeyoung to snap Mina out of her daydream

“Yes! The café… sounds good… I’d like to go.” Is all Mina has the power to say, trying her best to hide how much of a stuttering, awkward mess she is which luckily, the shorter girl seemed to not have picked up on and if she did, she didn’t show it.

“Then go there we shall.” Chaeyoung replies with a wide grin.

The pair exit the pizza store, side by side.

\----------

“So, tell me, what did you think?” Chaeyoung asks, adjusting herself on her stool, planting her elbows on the table and crossing her arms as she leans in. Indicating to Mina that she now has her complete and undevoted attention.

“That’s a rather heavy question to unpack” Mina begins. “I guess I’ll start with how I felt about the story overall. I thought it was really good. I thought that the writing style Patrick Rothfuss uses is excellent, it’s a very well fleshed out and realised world. the magic system is unlike anything I’ve ever seen or read, it almost seems real. There were times where it dragged on with pointless interactions but, all in all, it’s a really good book, and yes, I will be reading the second one.”

“I’m very pleased to hear that you enjoyed it.” Chaeyoung beamed “But, the main thing I’m interested in is your opinion on Kvothe, ‘The Man Who Set the City of Treborn Ablaze’.” 

“Yes. Him. I.” not knowing how to start talking about Kvothe, Mina stops for a moment, to gather her thoughts, then begins again. “It’s interesting because… I can see both sides of the argument. I can see why people love him, he’s a good person who went through so much at such a young age it makes you want to root for him. But at the same time… I can see why people think he’s one dimensional, I mean, he barely has any flaws.”

Chaeyoung sees that Mina has stopped talking and takes it as her opportunity to chime in “I understand where you’re coming from, he’s an exceptional human being, but… I think what you said about him having gone through so much trauma in his life is reason enough to get behind him and the stark contrast from his personality when he was young to what he’s like now, I think, is so interesting.”

Mina waits for a while, unsure of whether to continue, but no, she needed to get this off of her chest. So she begins again. “Okay but, to me, he kind of just seems like a perfect person, he is ridiculously good at almost everything he does, and it’s boring reading about him being amazing every chapter. I think, to create an interesting character that’s likeable and makes you want to see them succeed. There needs to be something their battling against, other than circumstance. The character needs to make mistakes and learn from them. I can think of one instance off the top of my head where Kvothe made a mistake, but it wasn’t due to a character flaw, he was just high on pain killers and wasn’t thinking straight.”  

Mina’s rant comes to an abrupt halt when she sees Chaeyoung covering her mouth, holding back laughter. “Wh- why are you… what’s so funny?”

“Don’t worry it’s just… I didn’t expect you to have such a fleshed-out opinion, given you only just recently finished it. I’m surprised and I guess I found it funny because… you’re cute when you’re serious.” Chaeyoung says, taking a sip of her coffee.

Okay… now that, is not what Mina was expecting to hear. As soon as she registers what Chaeyoung had said. Her heart immediately started racing. Knowing full well that turning into an awkward wreck was now inevitable, Mina’s brain went into overdrive trying to form a reply, something to try and change the subject.

“Sorry, I suppose I got a little carried away there. I went off on a rant that I’m not sure made much sense.”  Mina says as her cheeks begin to turn red in embarrassment, much like they had the last time they met.

“No, quite the contrary, in fact, you raised some points I hadn’t actually considered myself. But I guess, personally I quite enjoy reading stories where the character goes from strength to strength. I don’t find it boring, but I can see why people would.”

It’s a pleasant agree to disagree scenario in terms of both parties’ viewpoints on the book’s protagonist. The best outcome Mina could have asked for really.

As their discussion of ‘Name of the Wind’ drew to a close, Mina was most displeased to realize that she wasn’t satisfied.

She had led herself to believe that if she was able to voice her opinion on the story, that her feelings and thoughts about Chaeyoung would disappear. She coerced herself into thinking that the book was the only reason Mina thought about Chaeyoung. If that were true, simple math would suggest: eliminate the book and the relationship and feelings will follow suit.

But then Chaeyoung went and called her cute and she evolved from a regular, nervous wreck, to an unsatisfied, nervous wreck. An upgrade of sorts. Mina now understands that not every problem can be solved with equations.

“I should probably get going.” Chaeyoung says not long after she finishes her coffee. “Thank you for the talk, I enjoyed it, very informative.”

“I should be the one thanking you, for allowing me to voice my opinion.” Mina replies with a grin.

“I’d allow that, but I’d then return your thanks with a thank you of my own for allowing me hear you voice your opinion, as I suspected, it was very wise.” Chaeyoung says, stroking her imaginary beard, seemingly mimicking what Mina did in their last encounter.

And with that Mina couldn’t hold it in any longer, breaking out into an ear to ear smile and laugh, gums in full view.

“There we go, I was wondering when I’d earn one of those. I was beginning to think I had lost my touch.” Chaeyoung joked.

 “No, it just so happens I am a terrific actor, most of the time.” Mina replies teasingly.

“Wait… before I forget,” Chaeyoung begins reaching into the front pocket of her bag, pulling out a piece of paper and a pen. “Here is… my… number.” She says. She extends her hand out to Mina.  

It’s like her mind is in an intense battle of a tug of war, part of her wants to throw the piece of paper onto the ground and stomp it out of existence. Another part of her wants to take it, after all, it’s a direct line to Chaeyoung, the girl she hadn’t been able to get her mind off of for more than a few minutes at a time. But this goes against absolutely everything she’s worked towards in getting to a point where she wouldn’t be hurt again.

And Mina knows it. But truth be told she’s fucking exhausted and she’s tired of lying to herself about it. She’s led herself to believe that the only way she can protect herself is by not letting anyone get close enough to hurt her. And while that equation equals out, it doesn’t factor in a lot of things, two factors being her mental health and happiness, and with Mina tasting the latter recently in the form of her interactions with Chaeyoung. She thinks that maybe it’s worth the risk.

Mina reaches out and takes the piece of paper into her own hands. Glaring down upon it.

“So I guess, ill call you then…” Mina says with a dash of uncertainty.

“Yeah, I mean, you can call me whenever you like… but text me when you get home so I know you’re safe… you will be okay getting home, right?”

 Mina smirks “I’ll be fine, I only live a few blocks down the road, but hey, you better reply, so I know that you got home safely aswell.”

“I will.” Chaeyoung says as she sends what Mina thinks to be her _signature wink_. “See you later, Mina.” The shorter girl says as she heads toward the door, turning back a final time to giving Mina one last bright smile.

“Bye Chaeyoung.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my apologies if the dialogue between mina and chaeyoung wasn't the best, i found it rather challenging writing each of their opinions about the book, trying to give both parties' convincing arguments.  
> i think in the next chapter i will start introducing some of the other twice members, i have a few ideas on what role i want a couple of them to have in this story.  
> thank you for reading!
> 
> feedback is greatly appreciated:)

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly have zero clue what i'm doing and i'm basically just winging it.  
> this is mostly unedited, so if some of it is nonsensical, its because i'm tired and lazy, not because i'm illiterate haha.  
> Also, this will be a multi chaptered fic, as i want to spend time exploring Mina's character, including, what happened to her in high school that made her this way. 
> 
> The rest of twice will be added to the story at a later date as i still haven't quite figured out what their roles in the story will be. 
> 
> feedback is welcome:) thank you!


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